Did we worship God this morning when we gathered with our friends?

Did we really worship God? Or did we just PRETEND?

Did we worship as we should? Did we worship as a trend?

Did we do the best we could? Or did we just PRETEND?

Did we "come to church" this morning that we might be seen of men?

Did we come and praise the Lord? Or did we just PRETEND?

When the prayer was led this morning did we ask our sins forgiv'n?

Did we really talk to God? Or did we just PRETEND?

When the sermon was presented did it really sink within?

Did we do our best to listen? Or did we just PRETEND?

When the elements were passed after thanks for both was giv'n,

Did we think on Christ the Savior when He met the bitter end?

Did we really meditate? Or did we just PRETEND?

When the collection plate was passed did we put a-plenty in?

Did we truly please the Lord? Or did we just PRETEND?

On that Resurrection morning will the Master let us in?

Or will He say, "Depart! All you did was just PRETEND"?

If you reach that sad occasion and your shaking knees you bend,

Just remember hell's a place for those who just PRETEND.

    I think it works better than radio, better than auto-dialers, better than showings of Jule Miller filmstrips, better than mailing out a bulletin, better than Dial-a-Bible-Reading, better than debates, better than cable tv.

    What is it? It's brethren not being conformed to the world.

    If a church is made up of people who understand 184 current and past issues correctly, but their lives do not show superior conduct, servitude, and holiness, don't expect an auto dialer, computer, printer, broadcast antenna, or cable outlet to compensate for the failure.

    When church members think like the world, dress like the world, talk like the world, and chase money and status symbols like the world, it is the world that is winning them, not the other way around.

    When church members are selfish, egotistical, arrogant, and shallow, then they are not in a position to help the world to a higher plane.

    If our families are splitting up, our children are dropping out, and our homes are little different from our neighbors then our "light" gets rather difficult to notice.

    But if people learn self-denial (Lk. 9:23), learn submission to God and care for our neighbor (Matt. 22), learn to be servants (Jn. 13), learn to be content (1 Tim. 6:8), learn to invest in family (Titus 2:5; Eph. 6:4; Prov. 22:6), and learn to clean out the inside of the cup, not just the outside (Matt. 23), then bright lights will shine.

"Ye are an elect race, a royal priesthood, a people for God's own possession, that ye may show forth the excellencies of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light...having your behavior seemly among the Gentiles; that...they may glorify God" (1 Pet. 2:9-12).

"Present your bodies as living sacrifices, holy, acceptable to God...and be not fashioned according to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind" (Rom. 12:1,2).

    We are not called simply to know some things different from the world -- we are called to rise above the world, and to "be holy" (1 Pet. 1:15). And when people become that kind of light in the world, they become great evangelistic tools in God's service.

    And it will far exceed the effect of debates, radio, tv, and mail outs.

Peace to a Christian is not the absence of trouble,

but the presence of God.

***

Some people criticize the Scriptures like they do a restaurant:

if they have no appetite, they think the food is no good.

***

A man has the right to do as he pleases only as long

as he pleases to do right.

***

The pleasures of sin are seasonal but

the wages of sin are eternal.